days of the tenth month of the year or our Lord two thousand and eight, that the Tioga High Class of 1988 will assemble for a rather Informal / UnOfficial gathering of classmates long separated by time and distance…
Kev-stra-damus
October 27, 2008
OK — it’s not quite prophesy — actually not at all… Just seemed like a rather interesting opening for this blog to simply declare…
We Did It !!!
Yes indeed, it did indeed happen — a gathering of friends of old… True it was mainly locals, but we did have travelers from afar… Chip and Angie Durham from that vast swamp land of Thibodaux… Stephanie and Tanner Mattison from some Plano place in Texas — to clarify you may remember her as Stephanie Piper, Stephanie King, Stephanie McKenzie, that #$@% Stephanie, etc — or in the case of THS 88 on the Web, one of our most valuable early contributors providing contact info which would lead to others being found and getting this whole thing going… and our long distance travel winner, Suzy Sanderson Eddleston traveling from around the Bend, Oregon…
To get everything covered in some semblance of order, I’m gonna break it down the festivities into sections…
Overview:
Although things and events were pretty much thrown together on the fly so to speak, festivities were enjoyed by all… This was indeed a busy weekend both locally and down Baton Rouge-way with Monster Trucks @ the Rapides Parish Coliseum, Ultimate Fighting @ Riverfront Center, Movie with shooting Rene Zellwegger @ Buhlow, and that mauling @ Tiger Stadium as LSU got routed by Georgia — not all of these had a effect on turn-out, but LSU, Ultimate Fighting, and possibly Monster Trucks for which members had already committed definitely did — especially LSU vs. Georgia…
Of attendees, two families are Expecting additions next year — Jason and Erin Dukes, a single, and Stephanie and Tanner Mattison, a double… I don’t know how much of this I’ll be doing here after the first of the year, but let me know when the blessed day arrives and I’ll post a notice — and pics if you send ’em…
In the blog below this one, we have regrets expressed as being unable to attend…
Now I guess it’s time to get on to actual reporting of events….
2008 Homecoming Pep Rally:
This was an event that didn’t get promoted very well for a combination of reasons… 1) it wasn’t part of the original plans for 20n08, 2) I didn’t put much thought into it, and 3) I got notice of it after 7 PM on Thursday night… Missed the Homecoming parade which was Thursday — didn’t know about this one — short parade route according to Michelle Rollins Shelton — started @ the High School and journeyed on over to the stadium… As Michelle said, “barely long enough to crank the convertible”…
Back to the show… Got to the school where and ended up meeting up with Jackie Hooter Harvey and Gracie, Michelle with Megan (previous photos under I belong to…), and Angela Renbarger Morrison — I think I saw all her sons currently attending THS — Angela, I’d like a pic of you and your sons to post in the Pep Rally Photos…
Pep Rally itself was rather bland… Course with introduction of Homecoming Court, complete with their lists of likes dislikes, what they’re involved with, etc., does not necessarily make for good TV… The Court Rejects were with names Britney, Madonna, Lindsay, and Paris… Pics for all of this in the photos… Jackie had a niece on the court — some of youse people are getting old… They had a brief Florida recount on the Class Float competition regarding the 1st (Freshmen) and 2nd (Seniors) place but as they say in the NFL — after further review, “the play stands as called” — Freshmen win…
Head Chief, THS Principal Kim Hutchinson, now Kim Bennett, I guess since it’s been 20 years we can just call her Kim — heck she’s only like 5 years older than us anyway — presented the football coach the game ball complete with score displayed for the previous victory over ASH — 59 to 46 or something close to that — poor defense or special teams on both sides is what that says to me…
Rally ended with Class Chant-off — Slay the DeRidder Dragons — seniors won, but overall I thought it was weak…
Michelle and I both agreed the Rally seemed a little weak… Event covered and documented… We’ve got pics in photos…
Friday night Lights on the reservation:
Gee… Haven’t been to a THS football game since… eh… umm… errr… Homecoming 1998…
Pretty good turnout for the game… The no organized seating section seemed to have been a problem early on, but eventually we got mostly together in the season ticket holders section right on the 40 yard line…
Attendees included: Jackie Hooter Harvey and daughter Gracie, Michelle Rollins Shelton with daughter Megan, Theresa Welch Peters, Beck Bunting Malcomb with husband Stan and her 2, Darin Malone, Stacey Chellette, Tammy Smith, THS 88 on the Web Contributor — Patricia Prince Clark, Jason and Erin Dukes, Phillip Bergeron and one of his sons, Kim Lowery Wagner with Anna and Will (photos also under Who’s the Blonde Chick ???), Ricky Thompson, Traci Jo Wherle, Suzy Sanderson Eddleston, Randy Mehling, Tracy Malone Enlow and her kids, Becky Brinkerhoff was there too but I missed her, that’s all who are on the top of my head, probably will add more after I get back to selecting and posting pics…
Game was pretty good — THS won — you always want to win Homecoming… THS took the opening kick-off and drove downfield for a Touchdown… On the ensuing kick-off DeRidder ran it back for a score, but luckily he stepped out of bounds…
Finally had a chance to meet Jason’s wife Erin… Phillip tells me that THS Classes 87, 89, and 92 — maybe others, wish they had a web site such as THS 88 on the Web — I knew about 87 and 89 as I knew they knew about us — 87 via Julie Ogden and others, and 89 from John Gremillion…
Ended up staying after the game through the band presentations for both schools, with Jason, Erin, Suzy, and Lisa for some amusing conversation…
Final score from the Reservation — THS 51 DeRidder 21
Picnic & Family day @ City Park & Zoo:
Even with its early start time of 11 AM, this event got killed by competing events, notably LSU vs. Georgia with its 2:30 kick-off… Got word via E-mail that some of LSU faithful, Angie Whitehead Verzwyvelt, Della LaCroix Morris, and Jenny Chandler Gremillion had their own mini reunion as a tailgate party…
Attendees here: Chip and Angie Durham with daughter Carlee, son Ty, and 8 month old daughter Jordan… Rhonda Malone Worsham changed e-addresses on me and sent me an E-mail that AM also appeared with her kids and Tracy Malone Enlow and kids in tow… Phillip and Angie Bergeron and their 3 boys came as well… And for the Zoo portion we were joined by Nikki Jones Spurgeon, her husband, and daughter Madison…
Good time visiting… Weather was great, clear and sunny skies temps in the 70’s… Walk through the zoo not bad…
Derek Farris also hosted a game viewing party at his house — results of the game were not as desired, but I understood they had a good time… Pics from that event would be appreciated…
The main event — Dinner & Drinks @ Tunk’s:
Ran a little late getting to Tunk’s as filming @ Buhlow Lake stopped traffic — guess they didn’t want the roar of cars going by messing with their filming… Got to where I could do a less than legal U-turn and took the expressway… Got there to an empty room — this is great !!! Then was informed by our waitress Kristen, though Traci Jo would later call her — Elizabeth, Lindsay, and about 5 other names — that early arrivals were downstairs at the bar — actually they were out on the patio / deck, whatever you want to call it… We had Traci Jo, Michelle Zamanian Millard, Tamara Cutts King, Suzy Sanderson Eddleston, Becky Bunting Malcolm and her husband Stan… Kim Lowery Wagner aka Mrs. Sheriff, called Traci prior to arrival and Traci went into a bit about Suzy got drunk hit her head, paramedics and all and the possible need of changing event locations — of course none of it was true… Stephanie and Tanner arriving and many not knowing who she was until she spoke — their expecting family addition was easy to tell, course we would learn it was actually additions…
Ended up with a pretty full room… Drinks, photos from the 10 passed around… Got a full pic of those classmates in attendance in the photos, or coming in photos, depends on when you read this… Antics from both Traci Wherle and Derek Farris provided additional entertainment for all…
9:15ish or so many of us worked our own way down to the oyster bar for further interaction, music, drinking, etc… By chance, accident, luck, whatever you want to call it we found a LOSTie — Kathy Morgan-Sihan… Ended up shutting the place down… Staying talking with Jason and Jackie to around midnight… Good time…
The Wrap-up:
Despite the conflicts with LSU, Ultimate Fighting, Monster Trucks, Picnic vs. Tiger game party, we had a good time that was relatively easy to put together and could possibly be done easily again I the future with a little more coordination… No complaints here… It was good to see you all… Perhaps we’ll do it again sometime…